South Korea to North Korea visa requirements

No. A South Korean ordinary passport holder cannot make an ordinary tourist visit to North Korea. There is no visa-free, eVisa, visa-on-arrival or ETA channel. Travel is effectively prohibited: it requires prior approval from South Korea's Ministry of Unification under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, plus a separate North Korean invitation/authorization, and tourism is not an approved purpose. No South Korean national has legally traveled to North Korea since 2021. This is a special case, not a normal visa situation. North Korea does not issue tourist visas to South Korean nationals, and a South Korean ordinary passport is not used for entry; instead a North/South Korea visitation verification certificate or special authorization is required. On the South Korean side, the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act requires every citizen visiting the North to obtain prior government approval (administered by the Ministry of Unification), and the National Security Act further restricts unauthorized contact and travel. Tourism is not an approved category — approvals are reserved for limited official, humanitarian, sporting, cultural or business exchanges. North Korea's borders have additionally been largely closed to outside travelers since 2020, and even other nationalities can only enter on guided tours arranged through an authorized operator after Pyongyang approval. Because no lawful tourist channel exists for South Korean passport holders, the conservative and accurate verdict is visa-required (in practice, prohibited for tourism).